Peć

Peć
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District	District of Peć
Peja / Pejë Peć / Пећ

Municipality	Municipality of Peć
Government
- Mayor	Ali Berisha
Elevation	550 m (1,804 ft)
Population (2007)^[1]
- Total	97,250
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
Website: Municipality of Peja

Peja is a city and municipality in north-western Kosovo. It is also the administrative centre of the homonymous district.

1 Name
2 History
3 Economy
4 Touristic Places
5 Demographics
6 Sport
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

Name

The city is known as 'Pejë or Peja in Albanian and Peć (Пећ) in Serbian. Other names of the city include the Latin Pescium and Siparantum, the Turkish Ipek or İpek, and the formerly used form Pentza.

History

The city is located in a strategic position on the Bistrica e Pejes river, a tributary of the White Drin to the east of the Bjeshket e Nemuna|Acursed Mountains. The city was known as Pescium during the Roman era; or as reported by Ptolemy in his Geography, Siparantum.

The town became a major religious center of medieval Serbia under the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan, who made it the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1346. It retained this status until 1766, when the Patriarchate of Peć was abolished. Today, Peć holds the Patriarchate of Serbia. The town and its surrounding area are still revered by adherents of Serbian Orthodoxy; the town is the site of the patriarchal monastery, which stands above the town and consists of four fresco-decorated churches, a library, and a treasury. The 14th century Visoki Dečani monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies about 19 km south, in nearby Decan.

Peć was captured by the Ottomans in the late 14th century, and underwent major changes under their rule, including a change of name to Ipek. The town was settled by a large number of Turks, many of whose descendants still live in the area, and took on a distinctly oriental character with narrow streets and old-style Turkish houses. It also gained an Islamic character with the construction of a number of mosques, many of which still survive. One of these is the Bajrakli Mosque, built by the Ottomans in the 15th century and located in the center of the city.

The five centuries of Ottoman rule came to an end in the First Balkan War of 1912-1913, when Montenegro took control of the town. In the late 1915, during World War I, Austria-Hungary took the city. Peja was liberated in the October 1918. After World War I, the city became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Between 1931 and 1941 the city was part of Zeta Banovina. During the World War II Peć was ocupied by Albania. After World War II, Peć became part of Yugoslavia as part of the People's Republic of Serbia.

Relations between Serbs and Albanians, who were the majority population, were often tense during the 20th century. They came to a head in the Kosovo War of 1999, during which the city suffered heavy damage and mass killings.^[2]. It escaped further damage in the Serb instigated inter-ethnic unrest in 2004.

Economy

The economy was inevitably badly affected by the war, but historically it has centered on agricultural activities and craftworks produced by the city's traditional craftsmen – coppersmiths, goldsmiths, slipper makers, leather tanners, saddle makers, etc.

Touristic Places

Peć has beautiful, if undeveloped touristic places, including Rugova Canyon and skiing is possible in the mountains nearby.

Demographics

Year/Population	Albanians	%	Serbs	%	Montenegrins	Roma	%	Bosniaks	%	Others	Total
Ethnic Composition
1961 Census	41,532	62.35	8,852		12,701	728		1,397	2.1		66,656
1971 Census	63,193	70.12	9,298		11,306	433		5,203			90,124
1981 Census	79,965	71.99	7,995		9,796	3,844	3.46	8,739			111,071
1991 Census	96,441	75.5	7,815		6,960	4,442	3.5	9,875			127,796
January 1999	104,600		950			3,500-4,000				4,000-4,200	113,000
May 2006	78,712	86.3	1000	1.2		1,800	1.9	5000	5.4		91,112
Source: Yugoslav Population Censuses for data through 1991, OSCE estimates for data from 1999 and 2006

In 2003 the city had a population of 81,800.^{citation needed}

Sport

Peć is one of the successful cities in sport in Kosovo. In football(soccer),KF Besa, basketball team KB Peja and KF Shqiponja are clubs from Peć which play in the Kosovar Superliga. KB Peja is the basketball team of the town.Also there are: handball team KH Besa Famiglia, volleyball team Ejona Peja, judo team Ippon, women's basketball team KB Penza.